19-yr-old man pretending to be doctor in AIIMS for 5 months, arrested

The accused, Adnan Khurram, used his fake identity to befriend friends across departments.

Adnan Khurram also said that he posed as a doctor because he liked to spend time with doctors, a profession he wanted to take up himself. (Representational Image)

New Delhi: It turns out that a 19-year-old medical aspirant had been impersonating as a doctor in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for the past five months.

His impersonation came to light after he was arrested by police when doctors got suspicious.

The accused, Adnan Khurram, used his fake identity to befriend friends across departments.

A Hindustan Times report states that when police arrested Khurram on Saturday, they were surprised by his ‘knowledge’ of medicines, the names of doctors and department heads at AIIMS.

While police are still not clear why Khurram posed as a doctor as he has been frequently changing statements, one of the reasons given by the 19-year-old is that he had to help an ailing family member get preferential treatment.

He also said that he posed as a doctor because he liked to spend time with doctors, a profession he wanted to take up himself.

Deputy commissioner of police (south) Romil Baaniya said Khurram was handed over to them on Saturday and has been charged under sections 419 (impersonation) and 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) of the Indian Penal Code at Hauz Khas Police Station.

According to RDA president Harjit Singh, Khurram had been observing his activities in the campus for the past many months and decided to keep a watch.

“He would roam around wearing the lab coat and stethoscope all the time. We found out that he had made different claims to different doctors. To some, he would claim that he was a junior resident doctor while to junior resident doctors, he would introduce himself as an undergraduate medical student. He had even made his way to the WhatsApp groups,” said Singh.

With over 2,000 resident doctors in AIIMS, it is difficult to know each and every person individually and Khurram used this to his advantage and avoided being caught.

His downfall came, when, on Saturday, he participated in a marathon organised by the doctors. Some of the doctors got suspicious and asked him about his identity. When he could not give a satisfactory reply, he was overpowered and the police was informed.

The police said Khurram had no criminal record. During investigation, it was found that Khurram had uploaded many photographs wearing a doctor’s coat and stethoscope on social media. There are also photographs of him with politicians.

Khurram, a native of Bihar, lived in Batla House, near Jamia Nagar and during his stint as a doctor, even participated in events meant for doctors – from strikes to marathon.